Estimated costs and benefits of participation in an extreme ritual in Mauritius

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F25%3A00144488" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/25:00144488 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10017" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10017</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10017" target="_blank" >10.1017/ehs.2025.10017</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Estimated costs and benefits of participation in an extreme ritual in Mauritius

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Humans often participate in physically harmful and demanding rituals with no apparent material benefits. Although such behaviours have traditionally been explained using the lens of costly signalling theory, we question whether the canonical theory can be applied to the case of human cooperative signals and introduce a modification of this theory based on differential benefit estimation. We propose that along with cooperative benefits, committed members also believe in supernaturally induced benefits, which motivate participation in extreme rituals and stabilize their effects on cooperative assortment. Using Thaipusam Kavadi as a prototypical costly ritual, Tamil (ingroup) and Christian (outgroup) participants in Mauritius (N = 369) assessed the cost and benefits of Kavadi participation or hiking. We found that ingroup participants estimated material costs as larger than outgroups, physical costs as lower, and benefits as larger. These findings suggest that estimated costs may vary by modality and cultural expectations (e.g. Kavadi participants are not supposed to display pain), while supernaturally induced benefits were consistently reported as larger by ingroups compared to outgroups. We conclude that differential estimation of ritual benefits, not costs, are key to the persistence of extreme rituals and their function in the assortment of committed members, underscoring the role of differential estimation in the cognitive computation of signal utility.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Estimated costs and benefits of participation in an extreme ritual in Mauritius

Popis výsledku anglicky

Humans often participate in physically harmful and demanding rituals with no apparent material benefits. Although such behaviours have traditionally been explained using the lens of costly signalling theory, we question whether the canonical theory can be applied to the case of human cooperative signals and introduce a modification of this theory based on differential benefit estimation. We propose that along with cooperative benefits, committed members also believe in supernaturally induced benefits, which motivate participation in extreme rituals and stabilize their effects on cooperative assortment. Using Thaipusam Kavadi as a prototypical costly ritual, Tamil (ingroup) and Christian (outgroup) participants in Mauritius (N = 369) assessed the cost and benefits of Kavadi participation or hiking. We found that ingroup participants estimated material costs as larger than outgroups, physical costs as lower, and benefits as larger. These findings suggest that estimated costs may vary by modality and cultural expectations (e.g. Kavadi participants are not supposed to display pain), while supernaturally induced benefits were consistently reported as larger by ingroups compared to outgroups. We conclude that differential estimation of ritual benefits, not costs, are key to the persistence of extreme rituals and their function in the assortment of committed members, underscoring the role of differential estimation in the cognitive computation of signal utility.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

50902 - Social sciences, interdisciplinary

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA23-05655S" target="_blank" >GA23-05655S: Psychologie signalizace: Výzkum komputací umožňujících kooperativní komunikaci</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Evolutionary Human Sciences

ISSN

2513-843X

e-ISSN

2513-843X

Svazek periodika

7

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

e29

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

17

Strana od-do

1-17

Kód UT WoS článku

001589486200001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-105014099939